UK stuck in tech time-warp, finds report

Hoarding tonnes of VHS players, cassettes, dial-up modems, etc

Britain is hoarding 130,000 tonnes of redundant technology, all because we refuse to dump or give-up the gadgets of yesteryear - a forward-focused tech survey has concluded.

The survey of over 2000 UK adults by the British Video Association (BVA) found that 40 per cent of us hoard technology we haven’t used in at least 18 months. Why? “Just in case”, apparently.

One quarter cited nostalgia as the main reason for keeping out-of-date tech, while a further 15 per cent admitted fearing or suffering confusion about the benefits of new technologies.

Simon Heller, a spokesman for the BVA, said some UK homes “resemble shrines to the 1990s”. Perhaps because 45 per cent of Brits said they still owned a VHS player, while over half – 55 per cent – said they still owned a cassette player.

The report makes numerous references to “haven’t used in the last six months” and “haven’t used in a year and a half”. But seven per cent of Brits are still “leading the field” by equipping living rooms with Blu-ray tech and iPod systems, the report added.

Is your loft full of dot matrix printers, VHS cassettes and CRT monitors that you never use? Or,perhaps you still often use so-called ancient tech? Register Hardware wants to hear from you. ®